NVIDIA Unveils First Mobile Supercomputer for Embedded Systems

SAN JOSE, CA--(Marketwired - Mar 25, 2014) - GTC -- NVIDIA today opened the door to the development of a new generation of applications that employ computer vision, image processing and real-time data processing -- with the launch of a developer platform based on the world's first mobile supercomputer for embedded systems.

The NVIDIA® Jetson™ TK1 Developer Kit provides developers with the tools to create systems and applications that can enable robots to seamlessly navigate, physicians to perform mobile ultrasound scans, drones to avoid moving objects and cars to detect pedestrians.

With unmatched performance of 326 gigaflops -- nearly three times more than any similar embedded platform -- the Jetson TK1 Developer Kit includes a full C/C++ toolkit based on NVIDIA CUDA® architecture, the most pervasive parallel computing platform and programming model. This makes it much easier to program than the FPGA, custom ASIC and DSP processors that are commonly used in current embedded systems.

Tegra K1 at its HeartAt the heart of the Jetson TK1 Developer Kit is the Tegra® K1 mobile processor, NVIDIA's 192-core super chip built on the NVIDIA Kepler™ architecture, the world's most advanced and energy-efficient GPU. Tegra K1's 192 fully programmable cores deliver the world's most advanced graphics and compute performance in a mobile form factor.

The Tegra K1 processor is based on the same Kepler architecture that powers the U.S.'s fastest supercomputer, the Titan supercomputer at Oak Ridge National Laboratories, as well the world's 10 most efficient supercomputers. Designed from the ground up for CUDA -- which has more than 100,000 developers at over 8,000 institutions, and is taught at top universities in 62 countries -- Jetson TK1 Developer Kit includes the programming tools required by software developers to quickly develop and deploy compute-intensive systems.

Strong Backing A range of developers and system builders in the industrial, robotics and medical fields have expressed support for the development platform.

Chris Jones, director of strategic technology development at iRobot Corporation, said: "Having the level of performance and energy efficiency Jetson TK1 offers can potentially support the development of robots with real-time object recognition and compelling autonomous navigation capabilities. Our experience with the previous generation CUDA development kit has already enabled us to make great progress training robots to interact more intelligently with their environment."

Simon Collins, product manager at GE Intelligent Platforms, said: "Tegra K1 can change what's possible in the rugged and industrial embedded market. We expect to be able to offer solutions in the sub-10 watt space that previously consumed 100 watts or more."

Developer Tools The Jetson TK1 Developer Kit comes with the full support of the CUDA 6.0 developer tool suite, including debuggers and profilers to develop massively parallel applications. CUDA 6 also brings to the ARM platform NVIDIA's accelerated libraries for FFTs, linear algebra, sparse matrix, plus image and video processing.

Hardware CapabilitiesJetson TK1 is the first developer platform for the Tegra K1, which was unveiled in January at the International Consumer Electronics Show. It includes 2GB memory and input/output connectors for USB 3.0, HDMI 1.4, Gigabit Ethernet, audio, SATA, miniPCIe and an SD card slot.

It comes with a board support package and software stack, including OpenGL 4.4, as well as CUDA and the VisionWorks toolkit. It also includes a complete suite of development and profiling tools, out-of-the-box support for cameras and other peripherals, and NVIDIA's partner support networking including Avionic Design, GE Intelligent Platforms, ICD, SECO and Toshiba DME.

AvailabilityThe NVIDIA Jetson TK1 Development Kit can be preordered starting today for $192, in the U.S., from NVIDIA, Microcenter and Newegg. It is also available for preorder from Avionic Design, SECO and Zotac in Europe. Distribution in Japan is through Ryoyo Electro Corporation.

Certain statements in this press release including, but not limited to, statements as to: the impact, benefits, performance, features and availability of NVIDIA Jetson TK1; and the impact and benefits of NVIDIA Tegra K1 and the NVIDIA VisionWorks toolkit are forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause results to be materially different than expectations. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include: global economic conditions; our reliance on third parties to manufacture, assemble, package and test our products; the impact of technological development and competition; development of new products and technologies or enhancements to our existing product and technologies; market acceptance of our products or our partners' products; design, manufacturing or software defects; changes in consumer preferences or demands; changes in industry standards and interfaces; unexpected loss of performance of our products or technologies when integrated into systems; as well as other factors detailed from time to time in the reports NVIDIA files with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, including its Form 10-K for the fiscal period ended January 26, 2014. Copies of reports filed with the SEC are posted on the company's website and are available from NVIDIA without charge. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and speak only as of the date hereof, and, except as required by law, NVIDIA disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances.